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Sitting on the top row of gym bleachers during Wednesday’s signing ceremony at Rickards, senior Kalen Riles— arguably the Raiders’ best player— looked down and watched nine teammates sign letters of intent.

After committing to the University of South Florida just before his junior season, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound 3-star receiver with offers from LSU, Akron and others, plus interest from Kentucky, Louisville, Florida and Florida State decommitted in March 2015.

On national signing day, Riles was hung out to dry by the recruiting process that saw those same offers disappear over the next 11 months. A knee sprain that sidelined him for four games to start the 2015 season compounded things.

“A little bit (disappointed), but everything happens for a reason and I know God has a plan,” Riles said. “I’m just happy to see (my teammates) sign and get a chance to further their education. College football recruiting is a business for (coaches). I just have to look at it like that.

“I can’t do anything about it. It’s out of my hands. I just have to live with it.”

The soft-spoken Riles returned from injury with ferocity, catching 31 passes for 526 yards and five touchdowns over the remaining seven games, scoring second-team All-Big Bend honors with his hands of glue.

As of right now, Riles’ best offers are UNC Charlotte and Bethune-Cookman— his head coach’s alma mater— with increasing conversations with Troy.

“I have to keep working out, grinding, trying to get the offers that I want,” Riles said. “I’m just trying to go somewhere to do what’s best for me for my education and with playing football.”

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Rickards had eight football players sign on Wednesday.(Photo: Brian Miller/Democrat)

Education is where this story has its caveat. Riles is fully qualified with a 3.6 GPA and 21 ACT.

By all accounts, he’s done everything he should and programs should be climbing over each other to get a kid with talent and work ethic, on and off the field.

“You’re disappointed because you tell a guy how to do it from day one and he does it,” fourth-year Rickards coach Quintin Lewis said. “He walked down that line, straight down that line and did everything he was supposed to be doing. And because he wanted to treat it fair and make the right choice, schools backed out on him.

“They let guys who wanted to make an early commitment, guys who weren’t really concerned about their future, take up a spot from a guy that’s concerned about his future. He wanted to make a right choice.”

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Rickards coach Quintin Lewis fires up the crowd of students watching the Raiders' national signing day ceremony.(Photo: Brian Miller/Democrat)

USF didn’t have the major that Riles wanted, prompting the decommitment.

If there’s an irony to everything, it’s that Riles was recruited to the Bulls by Ron Dugans, who played at FAMU High and Florida State, but who was hired on Jan. 8, 2016, away from USF to join Mark Richt’s newly forming staff at Miami.

Decommitment shouldn’t be an ugly word.

“The schools are doing the same thing to them,” Lewis said. “They offer, but if you’re not going to commit by a certain time, they go elsewhere. Him doing it the right way kind of hurt him this year.

Rickard senior Kalen Riles(Photo: Submitted photo)

“All my young guys learned a lesson from Kalen. You’ve just got to hop on it. If you have to decommit, then do it because the schools are going to do it to you. That’s just the nature of the game right now with coaches getting fired so quick and having to win right now. They have to secure their stuff.”

By the time a senior season is underway, most schools— especially the Power 5 conference schools— aren’t out scouring for recruits.

They’re looking two, three, four years down the road.

Riles calls himself “a hard worker and a person that’s going to do and make the right decisions on and off the field and in the classroom.”

His path to college football, while frustrating, is the underbelly to the glitz and glamor portrayed by certain major sports networks.

“He’s got some real good schools coming through,” Lewis said. “It’s not LSU or Florida, but it’s just as good as South Florida. Hopefully, we’ll be back in a few weeks with him signing after we take a couple visits to places. He’ll be alright.”